Fonkoze

I'm sorry it took so long to get my last post out, I am just about to turn in my 4th (and nearly final) graduate application! As well, I have been furiously reading up on the work of Fonkoze, where I start next week.


Fonkoze is Haiti's Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor. They provide financial and social services to Haitian businesswomen, using a system they call Staircase Out of Poverty. It begins with training and counseling to the ultrapoor, then short-term and long-term group small loans, and graduate to individual loans with no limit. These women are creating jobs for other women in rural areas and become part of the formalized economy. Fonkoze also offers micro-insurance, savings accounts, direct deposit for the diaspora, currency exchange, and education programs.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, Haiti's population is mostly illiterate, so their education component is critical to their client's success. "Basic literacy is a cornerstone to democracy, self-esteem, sound business management and human development."

I will be helping to make sure Fonkoze meets its mission and goals for its clients.

Fonkoze’s mission is to build a sustainable microfinance institution to:

• provide Haiti's poor with the financial and educational tools they need to make their way out of poverty
• eliminate the kind of poverty that leaves people without hope, motivation and courage
• reverse the decline in Haiti's economy by empowering and motivating families to engage in sustainable economic development

In line with our mission, Fonkoze makes six commitments to every client that enters the program. If the client fulfills her responsibilities—meeting attendance, timely loan repayment, solidarity with her group—Fonkoze commits that within five years the client will:

• Have food on her table everyday
• Have a tin roof, a cement floor, and a sanitary latrine
• Be able to send all of her school-aged children to school
• Know how to read and write her name
• See her business assets accumulating
• Have the confidence to face her future, no matter what it holds

I hope to travel to some of Fonkoze's many rural branches, and to learn Kreyol, the language of business at Fonkoze. 90 percent of Fonkoze's employees are Haitian, so I will have the full immersion experience. I know one phrase that I want to use...

M' vle se itil. 

I want to be useful.

I am about to meet my boss for the first time (even though I live here now, it was easier to interview over the phone), so I will sign off and update on what I will be doing at Fonkoze some time next week. Although I will be working or on my way to work from 6 AM to 5 PM, I plan to continue my usual posts on the challenges of rebuilding in Haiti. 

2009 Fonkoze Annual Report